ok, today i wanted to transfer some files from my portable pin drive into my linux server. when i was using windows xp, the system would automatically recognize the usb device and would install it. but in linux, things are different.so to help anyone outhere who wants to know how to mount or connect their USB device into linux this is how you do it.
Login is root and send this command:
ls /dev
After you send this command, you will see something like this:
adsp fd0u360 lp0 ram12 systty tty28 tty49 ttyS3 agpgart fd0u720 MAKEDEV ram13 tty tty29 tty5 urandom apm_bios fd0u800 mapper ram14 tty0 tty3 tty50 vcs audio fd0u820 md0 ram15 tty1 tty30 tty51 vcs1 bus fd0u830 mem ram2 tty10 tty31 tty52 vcs2 console floppy-fd0 mixer ram3 tty11 tty32 tty53 vcs3 core full net ram4 tty12 tty33 tty54 vcs4 disk gpmctl null ram5 tty13 tty34 tty55 vcs5 dm-0 hda nvram ram6 tty14 tty35 tty56 vcs6 dm-1 hda1 par0 ram7 tty15 tty36 tty57 vcsa dmfm hda2 parport0 ram8 tty16 tty37 tty58 vcsa1 dsp initctl parport1 ram9 tty17 tty38 tty59 vcsa2 fd input parport2 ramdisk tty18 tty39 tty6 vcsa3 fd0 kmsg parport3 random tty19 tty4 tty60 vcsa4 fd0u1040 log port root tty2 tty40 tty61 vcsa5 fd0u1120 loop0 ppp rtc tty20 tty41 tty62 vcsa6 fd0u1440 loop1 ptmx sequencer tty21 tty42 tty63 VolGroup00 fd0u1680 loop2 pts sequencer2 tty22 tty43 tty7 X0R fd0u1722 loop3 ram shm tty23 tty44 tty8 zero fd0u1743 loop4 ram0 snd tty24 tty45 tty9 fd0u1760 loop5 ram1 stderr tty25 tty46 ttyS0 fd0u1840 loop6 ram10 stdin tty26 tty47 ttyS1 fd0u1920 loop7 ram11 stdout tty27 tty48 ttyS2
Now connect your USB pendrive, wait a like 15 seconds while your system recognizes the drive, then execute again this command:
ls /dev
Then it will display all the devices in your system
adsp fd0u360 lp0 ram12 stderr tty25 tty46 ttyS0 agpgart fd0u720 MAKEDEV ram13 stdin tty26 tty47 ttyS1 apm_bios fd0u800 mapper ram14 stdout tty27 tty48 ttyS2 audio fd0u820 md0 ram15 systty tty28 tty49 ttyS3 bus fd0u830 mem ram2 tty tty29 tty5 urandom console floppy-fd0 mixer ram3 tty0 tty3 tty50 vcs core full net ram4 tty1 tty30 tty51 vcs1 disk gpmctl null ram5 tty10 tty31 tty52 vcs2 dm-0 hda nvram ram6 tty11 tty32 tty53 vcs3 dm-1 hda1 par0 ram7 tty12 tty33 tty54 vcs4 dmfm hda2 parport0 ram8 tty13 tty34 tty55 vcs5 dsp initctl parport1 ram9 tty14 tty35 tty56 vcs6 fd input parport2 ramdisk tty15 tty36 tty57 vcsa fd0 kmsg parport3 random tty16 tty37 tty58 vcsa1 fd0u1040 log port root tty17 tty38 tty59 vcsa2 fd0u1120 loop0 ppp rtc tty18 tty39 tty6 vcsa3 fd0u1440 loop1 ptmx sda tty19 tty4 tty60 vcsa4 fd0u1680 loop2 pts sda1 tty2 tty40 tty61 vcsa5 fd0u1722 loop3 ram sequencer tty20 tty41 tty62 vcsa6 fd0u1743 loop4 ram0 sequencer2 tty21 tty42 tty63 VolGroup00 fd0u1760 loop5 ram1 sg0 tty22 tty43 tty7 X0R fd0u1840 loop6 ram10 shm tty23 tty44 tty8 zero fd0u1920 loop7 ram11 snd tty24 tty45 tty9
Notice the difference, now I see sda and sda1, so now i can mount the sda1 device which is my pin drive. but first i want to make sure i have a directory where i can mount the sda1. so execute this command next:
ls /mnt
Most likely you wont see a USB or anything that you can mount the usb drive. asuming you don't have a USB directory, which is my case, i will create a directory called "usb" so to that send this command:
mkdir /mnt/usb
Now that you have created the usb directory its time to mount your device, so send this command:
mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb
Ok, you have have mounted the usb device, nos list all the files in the /mnt/usb with this command:
ls /mnt/usb
REMEMBER, don't remove (disconnect) your pendrive until you have unmounted the usb device, so to unmount it send this command:
umount /mnt/usb
ALSO: if you try to unmount the device and you get something like this:
[root@host usb]# umount /mnt/usb
umount: /mnt/usb: device is busy
umount: /mnt/usb: device is busy
Send this command if you get a "device is busy" message:
cd /
and try to unmount it again. If it failed it was because you were in the /mnt/usb directory so you needed to get out before you unmount it.
also note that i used this same procedure to mount an external drive i bought at my electronics store. I bought a Wolverine (Wolvorine) 100GB USB 2.0 External Drive and it worked great to back up some files i had.
Hope this helps - thanks to the fold at www.webune.com for their support on this question.
hope this helps